By Timothy Peter

Dedza, November 10, Mana: Primary School Head teachers in Dedza have agreed to perform their duties diligently as one way of improving education standards in the district.

This was revealed at the first ever two-day Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Malawi Primary School Head Teachers Association (MAPSHA), Dedza Chapter that took place at Dedza Government Primary School under the theme, "Working together for quality education".

Speaking after the first day’s meeting on Saturday, President for MAPSHA, Dedza Chapter, Vincent Kalitsiro, said the meeting is crucial, as it has brought all of them together in ensuring that quality education is achieved in the district.

He added that as an association, they wish to collaborate with all primary school teachers to enhance their profession.

However, Kalitsiro asked government through Dedza District Education Office to provide them with necessary resources such as teachers, teaching and learning materials as well as teacher's houses.

"There are some challenges that hinder our performance in national examinations as a district.

"The most challenging problems include lack of teachers, decent teacher's houses and limited teaching and learning materials," Kalitsiro said.

In her remarks, one of the participants at the meeting, Sarah Ajawa who is Head teacher for Mapuyu Primary School under Chitundu Zone concurred with Kalitsiro saying teachers walk long distances to and from school due to lack of teacher's houses in different primary schools in the district.

"As a result of this, we do not properly discharge our duties as head teachers," she said.

However, Ajawa said she will encourage her subordinates and learners to be dedicated and work very hard for a common goal.

In his speech, Dedza District Council, Chief Education Officer (CEO), Julius Kamwaza, described the meeting as a platform for encouraging teachers to continue working hard in improving learner performance during national examinations.

"We have plans to work towards a common goal and we wish to achieve a 100 percent pass rate at each examination centre.

"We also want Dedza to become an A-type: where every learner sitting for Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) examination should get an A grade," stated Kamwaza

Responding to the concerns, the CEO said government has put in place several measures to address different challenges affecting education in the district.

"We have projects such as the Malawi Education Reform Program (MERP) which is constructing over ten thousand classroom blocks and teacher's houses but also we have another project called Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) that aims to construct teacher's houses," he added.

Kamwaza has since called on the communities in the district to join hands and be able to contribute locally towards teachers’ welfare where need be, so that they stay closer to the schools and help learners perform much better.

Dedza moved from position 9 in 2023 to position 5 in 2024 out of 34 education districts in the country during PSLCE examinations, a thing which has been described as a success in as far as achieving quality education is concerned in the district.